Both candidates in this month's Republican primary runoff for Harris County sheriff were recommended for firing by the agency they hope to lead.

Louis Guthrie was terminated in 2009 for improperly intervening in the investigation of a theft his wife had reported. He appealed, and the case has been sent back to the Civil Service Commission for review. Carl Pittman was recommended for termination in December 2008 for allegedly assaulting his wife but was still on the job when incumbent Democrat Adrian Garcia took office the next month. His case was reviewed by the County Attorney's Office, which thought the evidence did not support a firing; Pittman was issued a letter of reprimand.

Neither man was charged with a crime.

Guthrie and Pittman were the top vote-getters among eight GOP candidates in May's primary. The winner of their July 31 showdown will challenge Garcia this fall.

Guthrie, who now works for the Liberty County Sheriff's Office, received four letters of reprimand and two suspensions during his tenure with Harris County. He caused two traffic accidents, loaded his weapon with improper ammunition at an off-duty job and pressed a prisoner about his allegiance to the Nation of Islam, according to sheriff's office records.

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He was suspended one day in 2002 for engaging in "horseplay" with two other deputies at a training exercise. He was also suspended 15 days, which was reduced to 12 on appeal, and ordered to anger management counseling after he used excessive force with a man he was escorting from a bar at closing time while on an off-duty job.

Guthrie's termination stemmed from a July 2008 incident at a car wash in Humble, where his wife alleged $17 had been stolen from her car. The May 2009 termination letter states Guthrie, who was off-duty, arrived at the business driving his cruiser and in uniform. He blocked the entrance to the car wash and circled part of the facility in crime scene tape, then detained the employees and took their driver's licenses to check for warrants. Some of these decisions may have been illegal acts of official oppression, the letter states.

"Humble PD collected a lot of the IDs from these workers," said Guthrie's lawyer, John Denholm. "Guthrie didn't get out there until 45 minutes to an hour later. Everybody wants to make it look like he shut down the car wash - he didn't."

Guthrie said voters "absolutely" can trust his judgment, noting honors he has received and his quick rise through the ranks. "I was even promoted after most all of that stuff, so clearly that wasn't an issue with any of my superiors at the time," he said.

Denied allegations

Pittman on Monday denied the spousal abuse allegations, saying internal affairs investigators "to some extent harassed" and "probably coerced" his wife into making false statements. He also said his ex-wife made abuse allegations during a tense time following their divorce.

"The things I said were not true, they were said in a moment of anger and hurt feelings," she said, also confirming that she had donated $1,020 to his campaign.

According to Sheriff's Office records, co-workers of Pittman's wife raised concerns when she came to work with a black eye. She and Pittman said the bruise was caused by a child at a pool party, but she recanted under questioning and said Pittman had slapped her and also had punched her once. She later told the IAD lieutenant she had "made more out of it than it is."

Ordered to submit to a polygraph, Pittman repeated that he had not struck his wife but was ruled "untruthful" by the examiner.

"I have not and would not do such a thing," Pittman said. "In my over 19 years of law enforcement professional service, this is the sole incident that there is any sort of discipline in my history."

'Youthful mistakes'

Garcia was reprimanded for causing two traffic accidents, suspended five days for storing drug evidence in his office rather than an evidence locker, and suspended one day for being absent without leave as a Houston Police Department officer in the 1980s. He also admitted on his HPD application that he had used marijuana as a teenager.

"It's one thing to consider the youthful mistakes of a young Houston police officer," said Adam Harris, a Garcia campaign spokesman. "It's an altogether different thing when we're talking about abuse of office or others."